Geek 101: How to transfer music from iTunes to Android

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

So, you’ve been living in the iTunes world for the last few years and you’re anxious to get out. Apple’s music management software obscures a lot of the little things like file locations and formats, so it can be a bit of a pain to get your tracks from iTunes to an Android device, but don’t fear it’s quite possible to make the move. You already know that direct syncing isn’t happening as long as Apple has anything to say about it, so here are your options for how to transfer your music from iTunes to Android.

Third-party sync

If you don’t want to upset the apple cart too much, you can keep managing things in iTunes on your computer, but still get those files into your Android device. There are apps that can make that happen, probably the most polished and reliable of which is doubleTwist for Android. This app can connect with its desktop counterpart to sync your music (and other stuff) over USB just like iTunes.

Pick up the free Android app in Google Play, then install the desktop client on your computer. The desktop program will check for your iTunes library and show all the songs you have available for sync — note that only DRM-free tracks will work on Android devices. Plug your phone or tablet in via a USB cable and wait for doubleTwist to see it. Just use the Music tab to select your tracks, and hit sync.

Everything up to this point is free, but you can buy a doubleTwist upgrade via an in-app purchase that enables “AirSync,” a local WiFi sync tool. It’s much the same as the USB option, but you can initiate it while the phone is still in your pocket. This is the closest you’ll get to an iPhone-like music experience with Android.

Migrate to Google Play

Being an Android user, you might find it valuable to leave Apple’s ecosystem behind and go all in with Google. The situation on Android has improved dramatically in the last few years, so maybe it’s time to consider that. Again, this will only work if you have DRM-free songs in your iTunes library.

Start by grabbing the Google Play Music Manager (login required) program from the Play Music site. Music Manager will have you sign in, but make sure you use the same account you sign in with on your Android device. When Music Manager asks where you keep your music, just select iTunes and it does the rest.

You can store up to 20,000 tracks in Google Play Music for free. If Google has access to the exact version of a song you have locally, it will just match the existing online copy so you don’t have to wait ages for everything to upload. It’s a little like iTunes Match, but free. Any uploaded tracks will also be transcoded from AAC to 320Kbps MP3s.

All your songs can be streamed from the web player, or the Google Play Music app on your Android device. So you’ve got your songs in the cloud, but how do you get them saved on the phone? In the Google Play Music app, simply find the albums or tracks you want to save, and tap the “keep on device” option in the menu. Your phone or tablet will sync the files for offline playback over mobile data or WiFi, depending on your settings. You can track this process from the settings menu under Download Queue. The main drawback here is that synced songs are only accessible in Google Play Music.

Manually transfer files

If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you can manually transfer files to your Android device. It’s a bit more work to maintain the library, but you avoid any strange syncing issues and have more overall control of your files. You can also use any music player on Android you want with the transferred files.

Using your computer’s file browser, navigate to where the iTunes library is and get your bearings. You should find a bunch of folders filled with AAC files inside. As long as these don’t have Apple’s old DRM attached, Android can play them back normally.

Connect your phone or tablet via USB and make sure your computer sees it as a directory. Most Android devices now use MTP and PTP for file transfer, which is a little finicky. The notification shade will have a link to switch between these modes if one isn’t working on your system. Mac users will need to USB file transfer utility from Google to transfer files.

The AAC files you have in iTunes should have the proper tags for artist, song, and so on. If that is the case, you can dump the tracks on your Android’s internal storage and any music player will be able to sort it using tags. Keeping a neat file hierarchy will make it easier to manage these files manually, though.

Whichever way you go about it, Android is more than capable of handling all your music and then some. All Access is $9.99 per month and gives you unlimited access to all the music Google offers for streaming and offline listening.